I Had The Chance
by Lilac
Summary: Learn to fear when I clean out my files. This one is a definate redo. Anyway, what if yuo had the chance to get rid of your worst enemy and become a normal kid again? Would you take it?


O.K, I have no idea where I got this idea from, but this is probably for Ken lovers. What if one of the Digidestined had the chance to get rid of Ken forever? This is kind of dumb, but it's slightly better then some of my other plots. This takes place 3 years after the beginning of the battle with Ken.

d/c: Yeah, O.K. I confess. I own Digimon. ::70 armed guards leap up around her.:: Or possibly not. ::they're still there:: Fine! I don't own Digimon!

I Had The Chance

Daisuke stared across the water, hugging his knees tightly to his chest. That bastard. How could he have done this? Didn't he realise... oh what did it matter?! He would never get this! These were real, living creatures! Why didn't he realise it?! How could he have...

The brunet blinked to wash away the tears. Crying wouldn't help anything. It never did. He wouldn't get angry. He would get even. Revenge.

Daisuke looked down to the green earth beneath him, moving the toe of his sneaker around. Had it really come to this? Revenge? In other words a blood bath? It just wasn't in his nature, believe it or not. Sure, he wasn't exactly the friendliest person in the world, but he had never wanted to seriously hurt someone. Before now, at least. How could this hate have over come him so easily?

'Duh.' He thought a little histerically. 'Take a look. What has he done?' Killed innocent Digimon, destroyed perfectly good land, ruined their lives, just to name a few. Daisuke looked down at the water again, sighing at himself. What was the use? No matter how much he hated everything this Kaiser had done, it wasn't going to make it any better. Years of effort hadn't, so why would that?

Daisuke suddenly felt a presence behind him. He didn't bother to turn around. He knew who it was.

"Mind if I sit down?" The voice asked. Daisuke shrugged.

"Fine. Go ahead, Takeru. Just don't expect me to talk to you." He spat.

"Ah, so you do know my name." He said lightly, taking to invitation. Daisuke didn't reply to this. What was the point? Rivalry just didn't seem appealing to him at this moment. They had to fight the Digimon Kaiser, so why bother fighting among themselves? The both sat there silently for a while, staring out onto the lake as the sun set upon it, reflecting pure beauty. 

"There's one thing Ken can't take away from us, you know." Takeru said quietly, glancing at the other boy for just a moment before flashing back to the water.

Daisuke smirked. "What's that, captain too damn optimistic for my own good?"

Takeru ignored the comment. "He can't take away our will to defeat him. He can't take away the sunset." Daisuke smiled cruelly.

"Don't worry. Those are the next things on his list." Takeru sighed at his team mates negativity.

"Look Daisuke. I'm not even going to pretend that I know what you're feeling. I won't pretend that I know what you should do or what's coming next. All I know is that he wouldn't have wanted you to sulk over this." The brunette stared into the eyes of his friend, angry brewing and threatening to boil over.

"Please, go on. We know Patamon wouldn't want you to sulk over his death if he ever died, but gee, some of us ARE human believe it or not! Some of us aren't perfect little robots, just going around with no emotion other then that annoying happiness." Daisuke wouldn't let himself release anymore venom, for he knew he would just end up pushing him away, just when he needed his friends the most. Takeru was silent for a moment.

"You know, you should release some of your anger. It could help." Daisuke just lost it.

"Fine, Takeru! Fine! Where shall I start? Hm. Let's see. What would Takeru say? The beginning? Yes, that's a good place to start. But who knows where the beginning is in this world?! Who knows if there is a beginning?! Everything is just incredibly screwed up! There is no left or right, no right or wrong, no sanity or insanity. Everything is inhumanly equal and yet strangely different! At home I've always been the odd man out. See , I was never really that important. My grades stunk so there was no real reason to love me. I was just the little idiot that ran around, doing stupid things that everyone would laugh at for a moment and then get back to Jun, the beautiful little girl with great grades and some odd attraction to your brother! And you know what? I honestly can't say its been different around the digidestined either. 'Daisuke, stop playing games.' 'Ha ha ha! Wasn't that just so fuckin' funny five minutes ago when Daiuske fell off that cliff and almost killed himself?!' 'Daisuke, you are so selfish!' ' You can't do anything! You are absolutely worthless! Why are YOU are our leader?' Yeah, that's pretty much it. But you know, it wasn't so bad because I used to have a friend to share some of this stuff with. Like when you guys would laugh at me, even though I was trying my hardest." To Takeru's complete surprise, Daisuke lowered his head, and slowly little drops fell onto the grass. "Or like when I made a mistake and everyone just screamed at me, I could tell Veemon how I felt. Or when I was left out by you guys, I had Veemon to be with. But do you know what?! I don't have that anymore! So congratulations, Ken! You have officially destroyed me, and you guys can just go back to being sorry for me, and then we can all get back to laughing at me again."

"Daisuke," Takeru was at a loss for words. "Why didn't you tell us you felt this way?" He asked.

"Yeah right. 'Oh guys, do you mind not making fun of me? Yeah, you're kind of hurting my feelings.'" He mimicked. Takeru, looked at the poor boy with pity. He tried to hug his friend but Daisuke pushed him away.

"I don't need your pity, T.J. I don't want it. In fact, you know, you don't even have to give it to me. After I kill Ichijouji I'm out of the Digidestined! I quit! Screw this destiny! All it's ever done to me is run me through the ground and back up again!" Neither of them spoke as sobs racked the boys body and waves after waves of sadness, anger, and pure rage hit him, making him want to scream out of confusion.

"You, you can't mean that." Takeru stuttered. Daisuke turned to face him with a blotched face and eyes angry.

"Yes I do! Maybe you're too good to let everyone down but I'm not! You all seem to think you're better then me so go ahead! I've probably just been slowing you guys down anyway!" He exclaimed.

"Daisuke, no one-" 

"Save it! If no one really did think that, maybe they should have shown it!" Daisuke put his head down in his knees.

"God I'm just so confused!" Takeru felt his heart go out to Daisuke. No one really did have it quite as hard as he did. He wanted to comfort him, but he knew he'd be pushed away, so he did nothing. Neither of them spoke. They just sat there and stared at each other until Miyako finally came.

"Um, guys? We have a message from Koshirou that you might find interesting." She said hesitantly, almost like she had been watching the entire time and was afraid to break the silence or anger the brunette.. Who knows, maybe she had. Takeru and Daisuke broke their gaze and followed Miyako back to camp.

Everyone tried not to look at Daisuke as the three returned. They all knew he was in a incredibly bad mood and that he'd just snap if anyone dared look at him, especially if they had pity in their eyes. If there was one thing Daisuke couldn't stand it was pity, and any of it after what had happened would probably end up with dangerous results.

"So? What's going on?" Takeru asked, crouching down to the kneeling Hikari.

"Take a look at this." Hikari said, passing him her D-Terminal without a glance. Daisuke crowded around him as they both looked at the message.

Hey Guys!

I've just discovered a way to beat Ken! There's a certain place in the Digital World where a portal has opened up! I've taken a look at it and I'm almost certain that this portal is a door to another dimension! The dimension should be a place where everyone we know exists, but has a different role. I'm figuring that if you destroy Ken in that world, then he should be erased in this demension! I'm not saying you have to do it, but it's an option. If you guys are interested then the portal should be open for about 24 hours over on your side. However, I believe that the portal can only support one person going through it. If any more try to go, the portal will collapse on itself and who knows where you'll end up! So, either one person goes or none at all. Think about it.

Koshirou

Enclosed was a map, and the point marked where the portal was. Daisuke smirked.

"So, basically what he's saying is that if anyone goes, they're in for a blood bath." Everyone looked at him, a little sadly, yet they knew this rang true. 

"But should we even go? I mean, I do despise him, but deleting him is a little over the top." Cody said, looking into his mug of tea as if it might jump out of its confinement and answer the question at hand. Daisuke laughed.

"Destroy, delete, erase, get rid of. What's with all the dumb terms? Face it. No matter how sugar coated you make it, we're still right out killing him." He exclaimed, raising his arms.

"Look Daisuke! I'm getting a little sick of you moping around, getting everyone down!" Hikari shouted, tensing her body, almost like she was expecting, and ready, for a fight. Daisuke smirked.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Did I just ruin your little princess fairy land world where we just make Ken our friend and we get away fancy free with no guilt? I'm sorry if you don't want to face up to the facts but I am more then willing to. Either we take this opportunity and get rid of our enemy we've been fighting for three years now, or we fight him three years more! I don't know about you, but when I'm 65 I'd like this war to be over and if that means I have to get a little blood on my hands, so be it." He looked around menacingly, daring someone to challenge him.

"Guys, believe it or not Daisuke is right." Miyako said quietly. "I don't know about you but I'm sick of having to lie to my parents and everyone else about where I am." Miyako stirred the fire with a stick on the ground. "For once, I'd like to sit down to dinner without wondering where Ken is and what he's doing. I'd like to look my mom straight in the eye and honestly tell her I'm going for a sleep over at Hikari's house, or getting ice cream with Iroi. We are not going to have that freedom if we refuse to do damage, and if this is what it takes, I guess we have no choice." Takeru sighed.

"Two for going. Iroi, how about you?" Iroi sat there, still staring at his tea, a little hesitant at being the deciding vote on killing a human being, but finally he spoke.

"They're both right. We've been allowing this to go on for too long. How many has Ken wounded or killed himself? More then one. We've destroyed more lives then needed because we had dreams of Ken becoming good. Before he kills any more innocent Digimon we need to get him." He turned to Takeru and Hikari. "I'm sorry, but Daisuke has a point. Either Ken kills more Digimon, getting rid of thousands of lives, or we get rid of Ken. One useless life gone. It's hard to weight it out any other way."

"I just refuse to believe that we have to destroy-" Hikari's eyes blinked to Daisuke for a moment. "Kill Ken in order to get peace. We're supposed to fight for good. We're not supposed to take lives! We're supposed to save them!" Daisuke stepped forward.

"I really wish there was another way too Hikari. I wish Ken could have become our friend a long time ago and saved us this trouble and I frown upon anyone here who wishes differently. But how much longer before he kills us? One month? Two? Tomorrow? How many more Digimon will he have killed by the end of this week? One? One hundred? Believe it or not, we will be saving lives by doing this, Hikari. Sometimes there has to be a sacrifice for peace." Hikari looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"You are no better then the monsters Ken created Daisuke!" She sobbed, running in the direction of their tents. Takeru sighed and rubbed his forehead, as though doing so could erase the last few minutes.

"I'll go talk to her. 3 votes to 2. Majority rules. But one of you have to go. Hikari definitely won't and we both voted against it. Do you own dirty work." He told the three, then chased after Hikari. The three stood silent, and then Daisuke spoke.

"I know you guys probably won't want to get your hands dirty, so I'll do it. I brought it up and so I should go." Miyako put her hand on his shoulder gently.

"Daisuke, I'll go. I voted and therefore I should live up to my responsibilities. You brang it up because it was pretty much the only choice left. I voted because I agreed with you. I want peace. We're not getting any the way we've been fighting this battle, and too many Digimon are getting hurt. A lot of their deaths could have been prevented if we had done something earlier, but we were foolish enough to wait three years for Ken to wise up. He hasn't, I let it happen, so I should go."

"No, Miyako. Its kind of you to offer but I have to go. I'll never let myself live if I had to chance to avenge Veemon and I didn't take it. And besides, we all let it happen, not just you Miyako. Besides, this will probably bother me less then any of you." He said. He wasn't sure if they bought it, but never the less, they let him go.

"When do you think you'll go?" Iroi asked.

"Probably right now. The portal won't be open forever." He replied. Iroi nodded.

"So what are you going to take? Should I get anything ready for you? Do you need me to cook something? Do something? Anything you want you can ask me." Miyako told him. Daisuke smiled the first half happy smile he had since Veemon had been killed. Miyako could be cruel, but underneath it all she was sincere and caring. She really could be a nice person if she tried. But then again, she usually didn't try very hard.

"I don't think I'll take anything." He said quietly. She frowned.

"But what about when you're hungry? Cold? When you need a place to sleep? What about protection? You don't have Veemon any more. You don't know what this new world will be like!" She exclaimed.

"I don't care." He replied. "I'll do O.K for myself. Besides, you guys need everything." Miyako just stared at him through hurt eyes.

"Just promise me one thing." she whispered. "Promise me that you won't get hurt. Veemon wouldn't have wanted that." Daisuke gave her a weak smile.

"I'll try not to. But if I have to go down with Ken, so be it." They both stood there, staring at each other. Miyako with sad eyes, and Daisuke, just giving her a pleading look.

" Unless you want to say goodbye to Takeru and Hikari I guess you better be going now." She whispered quietly, her voice cracking with each word. Daisuke nodded, and went forward to hug her.

"Take care." She whispered, tears filling her eyes, and falling onto Daisuke's shoulder.

"I will." He whispered back, tears filling his own, but never showing them. They separated, and Daisuke went and hugged Iroi.

"Keep working at Kendo." He whispered. He felt the younger boy nod. He stood up, and faced them.

"Goodbye." He said. Miyako gave a sad smile.

"Never say good bye, Motomiya. You'll return." He nodded slightly.

"O.K then. Bonvoyage!" Miyako and Iroi laughed weakly as the brunette started walking. They watched him until the was out of sight. Then, Miyako broke down and cried.

**************************************

Takeru entered Hikari's tent, to find her sobbing quietly on the sleeping bag. He crouched as he entered, sitting down silently in the little space there was beside her.

"I think you might have hurt Daisuke's feelings." Takeru said quietly. "Why'd you say it?" Hikari sniffled before she answered.

"Because I knew he was right. I knew that we'd have to take this opportunity or else just be forever stuck in this, with helpless Digimon dying at our feet." Takeru rubbed her shoulder gently and she sobbed.

"I knew he was right too. I just didn't want to say it. I was in the little princess land. I wanted to ignore this, because it involved us killing him. I mean, as long as we didn't have to dirty our hands, and Ken was doing it all, it just seemed almost all right in my world. But Daisuke's right. This war has gone on long enough. More lives have been taken then needed. We have to attack this some other way." Hikari nodded slightly.

"So, is anyone going?" She asked.

"Yeah, I think so. I said majority ruled for going, but I said one of them would have to do it."

"Daisuke will probably be the one to go." She mumbled. Takeru nodded.

"He wouldn't pass up a chance to avenge Veemon. He'll probably leave in an hour or so, after he has all of his supplies packed." Hikari nodded.

"I just hope he'll be O.K." She said. He sighed.

"Hikari, if- when he comes back, we have to start being more considerate to him." Hikari frowned as she rolled over to face him.

"What do you mean, more considerate?" She demanded. He shrugged.

"Dai and I had a discussion by the lake, and he just opened up. Have you ever notice that he's always being laughing at and we hardly ever take him seriously? I mean, we didn't mean to but we did." Hikari looked back, thinking.

"Yeah, you're right." She finally said. "I mean, now that I look back on it, we were almost cruel the way we treated Daisuke." Takeru nodded.

"Exactly. I mean, he always put up a cheerful front, but I guess it was just slowly tearing him apart." Takeru ran his fingers through his hair.

"Oh what's the use?!" He suddenly demanded of himself. "There isn't going to be a next time!" His mood had suddenly changed from docile and understanding to angry and confused.

"Takeru! What do you mean there won't be a next time?" She asked, a little surprised at her friends sudden change.

"Hikari, Daisuke asked us to face reality, and I'm doing it. He probably won't come back from the other world! We know nothing about it except for the fact that everyone in this world should be there and he has a limited time there. It could be even worse then this one! I mean, even if he doesn't come out of it alive, he told me he was quitting the Digidestined! All we did was yell, tease and laugh at him, and I guess Ken killing Veemon was the last straw!" He yelled. There was a moment of silence as Takeru slowly came down from his burst of emotion.

"I'm sorry. I let my anger get the best of me." He said.

"What about Daisuke quitting the Digidestined?" Hikari asked slowly. Takeru sighed and ran his fingers through his hair once more.

"I believe he said something along the lines of 'After I kill Ichijouji I'm quitting the Digidestined. Screw my destiny.'" Takeru shrugged again. "I don't know. He was so angry at the time it was hard to tell if he really meant it. But then, it's always hard to tell with Daisuke anyway." A small amount of fading light came through the tent as Iroi poked his head in.

"Daisuke has gone to the other dimension." He said quietly. Hikari frowned.

"What? You mean as, he's already gone? How could he have! I just left the discussion five minutes ago!" She exclaimed. " He didn't even say goodbye to us! Did he even have time to pack any provisions?" Iroi shook his head.

"Not even food or water?!" Takeru demanded. Iori shook his head once again.

"Oh my god!" He breathed. "He's going on a suicide mission! Why didn't you two stop him?!" The blond exclaimed, jumped out of the tent.

"Which way did he go?!"

"Takeru! Calm down!" Iroi shouted.

"No! You and Miyako allowed him to go on a suicide mission! Do you know what that means?! When Ken goes down, Daisuke is going down with him! Maybe he doesn't even have plans to go through the portal! Maybe he's just looking for a place to hang himself!"

"I know Takeru! But this is his choice and his destiny! He has a right to go on a suicide mission if he wants to! Ken killed Veemon!" Takeru glared at Iroi.

"Yes, I'm not a complete idiot! I know Veemon was killed! But that doesn't give Daisuke the right to just walk out on us! This is his destiny!"

"Exactly. So if his destiny is to kill Ken, but go down with him, let him be. If his destiny is to go and find a place to hang himself, let it be. This is his choice and his alone to make! If you're so sure about this being his destiny then let destiny unfold by itself. We shouldn't intervene! Maybe if we don't Daisuke will come out all right." The fire in Takeru's eyes went down and he returned to his docile state.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." He said. Then, he walked back to his tent.

******************************

"Gee, maybe I should have brought some water." Daisuke said allowed, his own voice giving little comfort. He stopped walking and looked down.

"If Veemon was here, he'd yell at me for not thinking ahead. Then, he'd be mad at me for a couple of days." Daisuke gave a small, sad smile, remembering his friend. So much like himself, and yet, completely different. But the Digidestined shook his head.

'Veemon isn't here and you had better start realising that!' He told himself sternly. He sighed as he looked up again and started walking. The dry desert seemed to never end. He couldn't see anything except for cactuses and thousands of miles of sand. Nightfall was almost there and it was starting to get cold. Daisuke rubbed one arm while he checked his D-Terminal. Was this really the way? He looked at the map Koshirou provided. Yeah, it should be up there a couple of miles. Daisuke looked ahead at the diminishing sun. He had better reach the portal tonight, or he might freeze to death. It was strange how similar earth desert and the digital worlds desert were so similar. So he walked. And he walked. And he walked. For another hour he walked. Then, he fell.

*********************************

Iroi watch Miyako stare down at the flickering fire in despair. She picked up a stick and stirred it a bit, but to no avail. The fire just kept dying, and dying.

'Just like Daisuke will. Oh why did I let him go?!' Miyako demanded of herself. 'If you were his real friend you wouldn't have let him go!'

The young boy went over and sat down on the log next to her. Neither of them spoke. They just watched the fire die, until it was nothing but ash.

"Hey." Iroi said eventually. Miyako just nodded in response.

"What are you doing? Why aren't you in bed like the rest of us?" He asked, staring down at the smouldering ashes.

"Like the rest of us?" She asked.

"O.K, like Takeru and Hikari." She sighed.

"I'm worried about Daisuke. I don't know if he even left with his D-3, D-Terminal or anything. What if we need to communicate? Also, I'm just worried about him in general. He left without any supplies that we know of, and I heard Takeru yelling at you for letting him go on the suicide mission, I mean, what if he really has that in mind?" Iroi shrugged.

"It was his decision and no one else's. You won't be able to watch over him forever, Miyako. If he does have that plan in mind, then his death could be noble, if he takes the Kaiser with him. It would be the waste of a life if he hung himself. Either way destiny has it set for him and I believe it best if we don't disturb the course. I know Daisuke will pick the right path. He always come out all right, even when he's in a completely desperate situation he manages to find a way out." Miyako sighed as she stirred the ashes.

"Yeah. I guess so. I mean, I can't be responsible for every stupid thing he does. Besides, now that I think of it, he was a pretty good leader and he usually does manage to get everyone out alive." Iroi smiled at her.

"Yeah! That's the spirit!" He said energetically.

"Then why do I feel so crappy?!" She wailed. Iroi sweatdropped as he patted the back of the crying Miyako.

"It's O.K." He muttered under his breath.

***********************

"Destiny my butt!" Takeru muttered angrily as he shoved a few of his belongings in a bag. "Destiny can go and screw itself in the face! What an idiot! Suicide mission? What the bloody hell was he thinking?" He yelled, allowing his anger to get the best of him and shoving everything roughly into his back pack.

"Shhh! Quiet T.K! Hikari will hear you!" Patamon shushed. Takeru sighed as he took a deep breath and then smiled up at his flying Digimon.

"Thankfully I have you or else I would have been found out by now." Patamon smiled and nodded.

"No Problem. That's what I'm here for! But we had better hurry up if you want to follow Daisuke or else the rest will find out or Daisuke will be too far ahead to follow!" Takeru nodded and he snapped his back pack shut.

"Let's go!"

********************************

Daisuke shook his head as he woke up, trying to clear to vision infront of him from his eyes. He had to be dreaming. No place could be like this. To no avail, the image stood. Unfortunately it was real. It was hellishly real.

Right infront of him there were concrete buildings. Or at least, there once was but they had been reduced to rumble. All around him were rubbles, crumbles of concrete and totally and complete destruction. The sky was red. Blood red, so it cast a gloomy effect upon the rubble, making it almost mentally unliveable. No flowers, no grass. There were bare patches of land that suggested plant life, but probably died out because of lack of water. In other world, there was not a living thing in sight.

'No wonder.' Daisuke thought, dusting himself off and standing up. 'Even I wouldn't make Jun live here!' He looked around again. Nothing. Rubble and concrete. That was all for miles around.

"Maybe if I look around I'll find something." He said aloud. He climbed over the hellish land, looking for some form of intelligence, but none seemed to show itself. Yep, it was certain. He was on the other side of the portal. Daisuke looked back and memorised the spot where he came through. Not like there was much to mark it by. Then he continued his search.

After an hour of searching, Daisuke finally gave up, and sat down on a pile of rubble. He held his head in his hands and thought aloud again.

"Did I go through the wrong portal and wind up in hell? I mean, I've been doing this for about 7 hours and I haven't come across a thing! Damn it!" He swore.

"Please don't hurt me! I didn't mean to come by this way!" Something squeaked.

"Huh?" The brunet turned his head to see a tiny digimon, in training, behind him.

"I am so sorry! Please do not take the wrapth on my master! It's not his fault! I snuck out!" It exclaimed. Daisuke stared down at it.

"I'm sorry too. I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." He explained. The Digimon opened it's eyes and took a good look at Daisuke.

"You're different. You look like what you did when you got here. You can't be him. But who else could you be?" The Digimon asked itself. Daisuke stared dumbfounded. "Maybe you changed into a good person. What's you're name?" It asked.

"Um, I'm Daisuke." He mumbled uncertainly, as thought it were a trick question. The Digimon seemed to question him with his eyes.

"Strange. I know I shouldn't do this, but you seem so different. I even feel different when I'm around you." The Digimon started to bounce up and down.

"C'mon! I want to show you something!" The Digimon waited for him to get up, and then started bouncing towards... well, there really was nothing to bounce towards but it bounced. Daisuke followed it, still questioning the weird little thing and it's fear of him. 'Maybe he thinks I'm insane since I actually came here.' He thought. 

**************************

"Takeru!!! Why can't you just email him?!" Patamon whined, sweating under the heat of the sun.

"Because if I do I know he'll just go faster. I know you're hot Patamon," He continued, wiping the sweat off of his face. "But we have to catch up to him."

"But what if he's already gone through the portal?" Patamon yelled. "Koshirou said that it could only support one person!"

"Well, then I guess it'll have to support 2, won't it then?" He asked, smiling. Patamon sighed.

"Takeru you are so impossible!" He exclaimed.

"I my chocolate milk shaken, please, not stirred." He said in a lower voice. They both laughed.

"Anyway, even if he has gone through the portal we'll know and then we can email him." Takeru said.

"What if he didn't bring it? From what Iori said it sounded like Daisuke basically just left then and there." Patamon asked, settling himself on top of Takeru's head.

"Well, then we came up here for nothing." Patamon sweatdropped.

"Thank you for that little insight." He muttered. His partner laughed.

"I think you've grown weight since you were last on my head. Man you're fat!" Takeru exclaimed.

"HMPH!" Patamon snorted, getting off his head and flying again. "I'm sorry if we can't all be under 50 pounds."

"One word. Exercise." He said. Patamon plopped right down on Takeru's head, causing the blond boy to fall over under the suddenly weight. Patamon fell with him, landing in the sand. They both laid there, gasping for breath. Then, they both broke out in a fit of laughter

"You're going to drive me insane!" Takeru exclaimed through his fits of laughter.

"With any luck." Replied his Digimon.

*******************************

"WAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We also lost Takeru! WWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!" Miyako screamed as she tore around the campsite.

"What?" Hikari asked sleepily, poking her head out of her tent.

"TAKERUS GONE TOO!" Miyako screamed, grabbing onto Hikari's shoulders and shaking her hard enough to cause lasting brain damage.

"S-s-s-s-stop s-s-shaking me M-M-Miyako!" She stuttered. Miyako let go of Hikari, and calm down. Almost.

"WWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm driving everyone away! WAAA!!!!" She cried as she plopped down on the spot.

"What do you mean "'Takerus gone too?'" Hikari asked, frowning at her disfunctional friend. 

"Takeru left a note in his tent. He said he went after Daisuke." She replied.

"What?! Takeru was yapping about Daisuke's suicide mission, and here he is on his own. What a hypocrite." Hikari smiled.

"What should we do?" Miyako asked. Hikari shrugged.

"What I think we should do is stay here in case either one of them comes back." She explained. "But it's a group decision. We'll talk to Iroi when he gets up and decide something." Miyako nodded. 

"That sounds good to me!" She exclaimed cheerfully. Hikari sweatdropped at her friend. Crazy, but nice.

**************************************

Daisuke checked his completely defected watch for the time. Of course, the digital world had screwed it up completely, so it wasn't of any use. Still, that little thing was too hyper active for it's own good. It had been bouncing up and down for about the last hour, leading him to where ever they were going. Daisuke's legs felt like jelly and he seriously just wanted to sit down. But if he lost track of the Digimon he had no place to go and no idea of where he was going. This was plain annoying Daisuke, but what was he supposed to do?

Suddenly the bouncing Digimon stopped infront of a rock. 'Thank you, thank you, thank you!' Daisuke thought, sitting down on the rock next to the one the Digimon was bouncing by. He felt the muscles in his feet begin to relax, and his back begin to sag. Definite signs of relaxation.

"Finally. A little bRRRRRREEEEEAAAAAKKKKKKKKKK!" Daisuke yelled s the Digimon jumped on some secret stone or something that sent them both whirling down a long, rock tunnel, and ended with them landing on a soft pillow.

"Ugh... have you ever heard of 'living life on the mild side'?" Daisuke complained, rubbing his head.

"Springmon, what have you here?" Daisuke looked up into the purple eyes of his enemy.

"AI!" Daisuke exclaimed, jumping up and getting in the defensive position. "I know karate Ken!" He exclaimed. The boy in the grey suit frowned.

"Yes, that's great and all, but who are you?" He asked. Daisuke frowned.

"Duh! I'm Daisuke! Your sworn enemy!" He exclaimed. Ken's face lit up.

"Is it really you Daisuke?" He asked. Daisuke frowned.

"Um, yeah... I think so." He said unruly. Ken's face suddenly dropped.

"Oh. You must be from the other realm." He mumbled, as though Daisuke was of no interest anymore.

"Yeah, I must be! What have you got against that?!" Daisuke exclaimed. Ken's bored eyes drilled into his, making the brunet unable to look away.

"I need to explain some things to you." He said, moving into another area of the house. Daisuke was sure he was supposed to follow, so he did. He followed Ken into the next room. What he saw nearly made his eyes pop out. There had to be at least a hundred Digimon in the room! The room was fairly large, about 200 by 300ft to hold them all.

"These are the Digimon I rescued. There's a war going on." That comment made Daisuke notice something about some of the Digimon. Some had bandages, scars, burns or other deformities.

" I am Ken Ichijouji, the bearer of the crest of kindness." Ken held up his crest for Daisuke. "You see, in this realm, you are the evil Daisuke. You and your friends. I'm not sure if it's the same way in the other realm, but I suppose you know." He said, turning back to him.

"Wow. I mean, in my 'realm' you're the mad, evil genius bent on taking over the digital world." Daisuke exclaimed. Ken nodded.

"I thought as much. Then the two worlds must be completely different. How long have you been fighting the war?" Ken asked, as thought he were commenting on the weather.

"Um, three years." Daisuke said.

"Hm. It's been six here." Ken sighed as he looked around. "You, Hikari, Miyako and Takeru have taken over the digital world. We are the only resistance. These Digimon and I. I hate making them fight, but it's the only possible chance for freedom. Everyone outside this place is under the influence of you four. You came in to the digital world to fight to evil. But the evil got you. I just barely escaped myself." Ken closed his eyes, as though remembering it. "Yes. We tried to save you but you wouldn't listen. You almost killed me but I escaped with the help of Wormmon. You put a spell or something or the sort- even now I am not completely sure- on the Digimon, making them your slaves. These ones are the only ones with free will. The only ones left to fight." He closed his eyes once again.

"The older digidestined tried to help me, Yamato and Sora and the group, but Hikari closed off the entrance so on one could get in or out of the digital world excusing them." He sighed. "I don't know where Iori is though, or even which side he is on. There's speculation that he might have been the one who kill his Digimon, Veemon. The Daisuke here- or as he calls himself, The Ruler- is really mad. He thinks I killed Veemon." He smirked. "He should know that's not my style. Why would I bother saving the Digimon if I just went out and killed some? Anyway, he's been absolutely furious for the last couple of days, so I've made everyone hide low. Springmon was just returning to me when he found you. Lucky he did. These ruins of a city expand thousands of miles. You never would have gotten out of there alive, unless The Ruler found you. Then, you would have been dragged out and killed for impersonating the all might idiot." Daisuke was absolutely stunned. This Ken was so different from the one back in his realm.

"So how did you get here?" Ken asked.

"Well, uh, a portal opened and uh," Daisuke trailed.Ken nodded.

"I've been noticing some paranormal activity in one spot. That's probably the portal you came through. Now, I'm interested to know, you're basically TR in the other world, except you're fighting for my side. Now, if you are him, which you are, then where is your Veemon?" He asked. Daisuke turned his head away as tears began to fill his eyes.

"Y-You killed him." He whispered.

"Oh no. I'm truly sorry." Ken mumbled, sounding a little shocked at the thought. Daisuke wiped his tears away with the back of his hand, sniffling slightly, hoping Ken wouldn't hear it.

"It's O.K. I mean, you couldn't have known what the other you was doing, right?" Daisuke, asked, trying to smile at him. Ken's face remained stony.

"I guess you're right. I just wish there were some way to make it up to you." He sighed. Then, he frowned.

"Wait a minute. If everything is parallel in the universes, well, O.K not parallel exactly, but if everyone in this dimsenion is over there, except doing different roles and if one is killed in one dimsenion, then the other ones dies too, that could possibly mean," Ken looked into Daisuke's eyes. "You've come here to destroy me." Daisuke took a step back, a little shocked. He just seemed to get that from thin air!

"Well, what did I say. Mad, evil genius." Daisuke chuckled wearily.

"How did you know it wasn't simply an accident that I stumbled through a portal?" He asked. Ken gave a small smile.

"The thing about portals, is that only if you're looking for them can you come through them. Plus, I'm not sure how advanced your technology is, but I had an idea that you knew about parallel universes." Daisuke kind of shrugged, but then nodded. Then a thought occurred to him.

"Wait a minute. Are you going to kill me?" He asked, a little alarmed. Ken let out a laugh.

"No. If you're on the good side in the other world, there isn't much point in killing you. If both Daisuke's die, it benefits me, but not the other realm. If I killed you here and now, the entire universe could be thrown off balance in both worlds. So, no, I won't kill you, Daisuke." Daisuke stood there for a moment, looking at the purple haired boy critically. It would benefit him to kill Daisuke here and then, so why not now? It just didn't make sense. If you thought strategically, then the only option would be to kill him. But then...

Daisuke looked around in this little Digimon haven. The Digimon here looked almost, happy. They smiled and bounced, even though they were hurt. What would happen if Daisuke killed Ken? Thousands of possibilities ran through the boys mind. The Digimon would be capture and either killed or turned against good. There would be no hope. This world would be destroyed.

But then again, Daisuke wasn't supposed to be here, so it should have meant less to him. So what if the Digimon were capture? There could only be what, a couple of hundred, most of whom were hurt. In his world, thousands of Digimon were free, and he had an obligation as a digidestined to defend them. 

But then so did Ken. He was a digidestined too. He had the same responsibility as Daisuke. So, why was Ken refusing to do his job and destroy, no, kill him? 

Then, Daisuke got it. Throw off the balance. If Ken killed Daisuke here today, his world had a better hope, while the other world had less. What if, without him, darkness gain the entire digital world, and everyone and thing there was taken over by darkness? This world would probably be taken under darkness too. So Ken was right.

But still. In this world, Ken was the only human refugee. In his world, Ken was the only trouble maker. If he got rid of Ken then darkness would take over this world 100%. In his world, good would take over 100%. On the scales of the worlds, evil and good would weight out to about 50% each. Which was the lesser of his guilt?

'You are no better then the monsters Ken created Daisuke!' Daisuke raised his eyes as that comment rang through his mind for some odd reason. Maybe Hikari was right. Maybe killing Ken wasn't the only way. Maybe Daisuke really WAS worse then Chimeramon.

"Look, Daisuke. If you intend to leave this place, you had better do it now. The portal is only going to be open for another hour, and it's about a 45 minute walk uninterrupted. So take your choice. Either kill me now, or leave me be."

"Huh?" Ken's voice snapped Daisuke out of his day dream.

"How do you know that?" He asked. Ken shrugged.

"I brought a computer here before the gate was closed off." Then, Daisuke just asked the one question he was dying to know.

"O.K, so if the gate between earth and the Digital World is shut off then aren't your parents going insane trying to find you?" Ken turned his head, not saying anything for a moment. Daisuke frowned.

"Ken, are you O.K? You don't have to tell me if..."

"Takeru killed them." They both just stood there, frozen in time.

"Oh my god." Daisuke breathed. "I am so sorry." Silence. Daisuke twitched uneasily. Should he really ask the other question he had in mind? Well, "How do you go on knowing that your once friends kill your parents?" Ken didn't reply for a moment. He simply looked down, seeming to think about it for a while.

"You know, Daisuke, sometimes just knowing you have a purpose, gives you all the strength you need to go on." Daisuke blinked. He had never seen it that way. A purpose. Reason to live.

"So, are you going to kill me or are you going to let me live?" Ken asked, with a half sad smile.

"Where's the portal?"

***************************************

"Takeru?"

"Patamon, if you're complaining again you're just wasting your breath, I hope you realise." His companion said, a weary smile on his face.

"Ha ha." Patamon grumbled. "I was just thinking, Daisuke has to have brought his D-3. No one ever takes it off. So why not try to see here he is on there." The blond boy looked up at the pig like creature on the top of his head with a questioning looked.

"Patamon, you're acting kind of smart today. Are you feeling O.K?" Patamon glared at Takeru as he stopped and took out his D-3. They both stared down at it, a look of confusion of their faces.

"That's strange." Patamon mumbled. There were 3 dots behind them. Hikari, Miyako and Iroi. Then, there was one coming at them from the east. They were south, in front of them. "I mean, Daisuke could have left in the same direction we did.

"Unless that's not Daisuke." Takeru said slowly. "Us five are not the only digidestined here."

"Yeah, but the rest would have come in at least pairs." Patamon protested.

"It's not the older digidestined." Takeru said, his eyes fixed on the screen in front of him. Patamon gasped.

"Ken!"

**************************

"So what do you think we should do Iroi?" Hikari asked. The three remaining digidestined were around their earlier fire pit, sitting on their own logs. The girls had informed Iroi of what had happened and they were currently making a decision on what they should do.

"Well," Iroi said. "I'd have to say staying here is pretty much our only option. We can't go home- what if something happens to Daisuke or Takeru? We can't move because Takeru may be able to track our signal but we don't know about Daisuke. Plus, we've destroyed the control spire here and so there's no point in going anywhere else because we'd have to destroy another spire some how without digivolving. Also, we know where food and water is here, and there's a lot of it and we don't know if there's any fertile place past this. So the only true option we have is staying." Hikari nodded.

"Does anyone have any objections?" No one said anything.

"O.K. Then our next order of business." She continued.

"That being?" Iroi asked.

"Finding out what Takeru thinks he's doing!" Hikari shouted. Then something beeped. She raised her eyebrows as she got out her D-Terminal. Everyone crowded around as Hikari read the message aloud.

Guys! Watch out! The Digimon Kaiser is coming your way! He's attacking from the east! There's just desert out there so I think you should try to meet him before he discovers the camp. I haven't found Daisuke and I can't trace him on our D-3s, so I'm going to try to email him. I think he must have gone through the portal by now, although I'm beginning to wonder if he'll make it out in time. I'll keep searching but just watch out for the Kaiser.

Takeru

Everyone looked at each other as Hikari put it away. "You're physic!" Miyako exclaimed. Hikari nodded.

"Yeah, something like that. But he have to go out for a match against Ken. I wonder how he knew Ken was coming our way though." Hikari mused.

"Oh well. Let's go and have a show down." Miyako exclaimed.

******************************

"Well, I guess this is goodbye." He said, the slight breeze swaying his purple hair slightly.

"Yeah." The brunet replied. "I wish there was some way I could stay and help you." He said remorsefully. The other boy laughed.

"What you can do to help me is you can go back over to your world and fight your best. if you win, you never know. We may have a greater hope over here." Daisuke nodded.

"Maybe if we win our wars we can find a way to come over and help you win yours." He suggested. Ken nodded.

"Yeah. Maybe." They both stood there in silence, nether one of them want to go.

"The portal won't be open forever." Ken said finally. Daisuke nodded.

"I guess I had better go now." Daisuke stepped off the pile of rubble he was standing on, and stood before the place where the portal was supposed to be.

"Thank you Ken." Daisuke said. Then he stepped into the portal. There was a flash, and Daisuke was gone.

***************************

"You think T.K was lying?" Miyako asked, scanning the horizon.

"Why would be do that? It does make any sense. Maybe he miscalculated or something." Iori suggested. "Maybe the Kaisers coming from the west or something."

"I don't think so. I mean, Takeru aced the last geography test we had." Hikari commented.

"Yeah but I bet that test didn't have anything about the digital world on it." Miyako pointed out.

"Well, still, it would only make sense if Takeru knew his directions." She said, the shrugged.

"Hey! Wait a minute! Look up there!" Miyako exclaimed, pointing upwards. A black dot made its way overhead.

"It could be anything." Iroi said, unconvinced.

"Yeah, well, I'm going to check it out." Miyako exclaimed. "Digi Armor Energise!" She shouted, raising her D-3 in the air.

"Hawkmon armor digivolve to..." There was a pause as a bright light came over Miyako's Digimon.

"Halsemon, the wings of love!" In place of Hawkmon stood the invincible Halsemon.

"All right Halsemon. Take us up to that big, black conspicuous dot!" Miyako exclaimed, getting on her winged Digimon. A moment later they flew up and up until they were a dot too. Hikari smiled.

"Same old Miyako."

"I still think it was nothing." Iroi said, crossing his arms angrily. She giggled. Then, out of no where, Halsemon and Miyako came crashing back down to earth, inches infront of them.

***********************

Takeru frowned, searching around. Patron and him should have been mere inches from where the portal was, at least according the Koshirou's map, but they could see a thing!

"Maybe the portals closed." Patamon said quietly.

"Let's not think of that as an option right now Patamon." Takeru mumbled, worried for him friend. Patamon sighed.

"Well I guess Daisuke hasn't killed Ken yet." Patamon said. Takeru ignored his friend as he continued to search for some sign of the portal, or hide or hair of Daisuke.

"WAAA!!!!!!" 

"HMPH!" 

Patamon looked down at the mess of limbs below. The sight was almost scary. A hat here, goggles there, an arm somewhere in between. But, at any rate, it was good news.

"Daisuke!" Takeru exclaimed, quickly getting untangled and gathering his friend in a big hug. "I missed you!"

"Takeru....can't ..... breathe....." Daisuke garbled, trying to pull the blond away, to no avail. Then, Takeru leaned back and punched Daisuke as hard as he could in the stomach.

"You incredibly stupid asshole! What the hell were you thinking going with no provision?!" Daisuke clutched his sides in agony. "I mean, no protection! God only knows what was on the other side of the portal! Well, and you now, but you didn't know before and it could have been very dangerous! I was worried you baka!" Takeru yelled, pacing back and forth.

"I'm sorry." Daisuke managed to choke.

"Good. Now the others are in trouble so we need to go and rescue them." Takeru said, turning on his heel and marching back in the direction that he came from.

"Help..." Daisuke breathed.

*************************************

"WAAAAAA!!!!!! I'm too young to die! I wanted to go home and I wanted to open up a pony trail and I wanted to give my mom a big hug and I wanted to annoy my brother and I wanted-"

"Miyako, would you please shut up?!" Hikari demanded. Miyako whimpered. "We're not completely beaten yet-"

"No but you might as well be, Digidestined." Ken let out a cruel laughed.

"For the love of god would you shut up and let us speak! It's always 'Ken this' and 'Ichijouji that' would you please give us a minute alone!" Iroi yelled. Everyone stared at him as he turned a faint red.

"Thanks." He muttered.

"Now I think that all we need is a good plan of action. I mean, so what if it's 50:3 in Ken's favour? We can do this!" Hikari exclaimed.

"Hikari?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you insane?"

Pause.

"WWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is one of the very few times I wish Dai were here!" Miyako cried.

"Your time is up, Digidestined." Ken laughed.

"Drademon! Go finished them off!" Ken commanded. The huge dragon beside Ken swept toward them.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!" Miyako and Hikari screamed. Their digimon were too wounded to do anything!

"Aqua beam!" Suddenly a bright, bluey light hit the Digimon, causing it to bounce back. Ken looked up in annoyance to see Takeru, Daisuke and Pegasusmon hovering above them.

"Thanks for arriving you two!" Miyako yelled.

"Yes, how nice indeed. Now I can kill 5 birds with one stone, get them!" Suddenly every Digimon at Ken's side went flying towards them.

Several attacks were yelled out, several sounded were heard. The noise deafening, the sounds sickening. It was battle.

Daisuke, on the other hand, was sneaking away from the battle, towards our dear Ken Ichijouji. Surprisingly he made it, without being hurt too incredibly much. Then, he watched and waited. The Kaiser, so involved in the battle, didn't notice the boy sneaking up to him. Didn't notice the threat.

Just at the right moment, when Ken was low enough, Daisuke ran out and quickly knocked him off his flying Digimon and to the ground.

"What the? Daisuke? What the hell is your problem!" He shouted. Daisuke smirked.

"You know what?" He asked, punching the Kaiser in the face. "I know you better then you think. I know that deep down there, some where, there is a trust worthy, loveable person. This isn't the real you. It's a mask. I know and have seen the real you Ken. You're nothing like this.

"What are you talking about?" Ken asked, looking a little panicked.

"You know what I'm talking about. I'm talking about Kindness." 

"You're crazy! Get off of me!" Ken yelled, managing to over throw Daisuke and get up. Daisuke simply looked at him, as though he pitied him. Ken was officially freaked.

"Stand back! We've got better things to do then fight with these foolish idiots! Maybe another time, Digidestined." And with that, Ken and his army were off.

*********************************

"So I take it you didn't destroy him?" Hikari asked when they got back to camp. Daisuke shook his head as he stirred the fire.

"Ha. Knew you wouldn't do it." She said triumphantly. Daisuke smiled slightly.

"I would have done it."

"Then why didn't you?!" Miyako yelled.

"You wouldn't understand." Daisuke thought about what he had just said. "Well, you probably would have but I'm too lazy to tell you."

"Did you even find him?! Did you have the chance?" Takeru asked. Daisuke smiled slightly.

"Oh I had the chance. But I didn't take it."

______________________________________________________________________________

O.K., there you go people. Finally I'm done! ::wips brow:: But anyway, how'd you like it? R&R please. ::sighs:: This is my first real non-romance fic. I'm so proud. Now I have to go through spell check. Well, if you don't get this, it's probably because I took my anger out on spell check. ::cough::

Lilac


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